I wrote this short piece for my local party newsletter

"I joined GP for ecological reasons growing from a childhood fascination with wildlife and urban tourism into rurality. I had political reasons too, school and university studies led me to agree with Armenian radio that “Capitalism is the exploitation of man by man and under Communism the reverse is the case”. I was also politicised by work. I have temporarily been a builders’ labourer and a factory worker where dirty, dangerous conditions and the arbitrary and exploitative behaviour of employers showed me the importance of Unions. This was reinforced in the gentler conditions of teaching and lecturing where Unions are important not just as defenders of workers but as defenders of education. After brief acquaintance I saw that the Labour party and a genuinely radical political labour movement were not the same, further more the LP and the Left in general had, until a few years ago a gaping chasm where an understanding of political environmentalism should be and I have yet to be convinced that the “greening” of other political parties is more than cosmetic. The way these strands of reasons to be Green interact makes me a Green Socialist rather than a ‘Deep Ecologist’ because humans are part of the natural environment and urgently need to learn how too play a non-destructive, non-exploiting role in it. "

I wrote it late and the Brent news letter editor Martin Francis had in the meantime penned the following as a placehoder for Brent Green news, its much better I think.